"New rules, the same ministry"

By Nina, volunteer from Ashdod

Restrictions are gradually being removed, and more and more volunteer groups are returning to serve in Aviv Center. They stand and feed the visitors not in the Center itself, which is still prohibited, but at the entrance to it.

They also recall the most "restricted" times when they could come only in pairs and distribute the food on the streets. One day they stood at the checkpoint for an hour and a half in a line of those who wanted to enter the city. The police did not allow many cars to enter. But when the volunteers said they were going to feed the homeless and showed an official paper from Aviv Ministry, they police immediately let them pass! There was also a period (during the strictest quarantine) when no one was able to come for three days. The volunteers who finally managed to break through, saw that the street people simply threw themselves on the food, so hungry they were!

Today everything was organized according to the new rules, in disposable tableware: a nourishing meal with salad, hummus and a warm large pita bread. The volunteers prepared the lunch boxes themselves in the early morning and came to Tel Aviv at 9 am. Coffee and water were poured into disposable cups and distributed. People took the food and set on a bench or parapet to have lunch, although many just set on the sidewalk.

The volunteers also walked through the streets, distributing the boxes. While a person was eating, they had time to tell him about their lives, about salvation and about God's love: “After all, He sent us to you, please understand and accept!” Today many pairs of socks were distributed, and the street guys and girls rejoiced to receive such a simple gift…

The pita bread that remained in the end of the shift was brought to the overnight shelter nearby. "Please, enough with this life!" - Igor said to the guys in the semigloom of the dingy rooms of the shelter. And then told us: "It is so painful to look at them… Keep praying..."